Local Faces: Shane Kelly
By Hayden Moore
“It’s called a Friesian, they come from Holland,” Shane Kelly says when asked about the horse he’s standing with at the Fettercairn Youth and Horse Project.
The 21-year-old has had a passion for horses since he was only a young child, a passion fostered through his older brother Daniel’s love for the hoofed mammal.
Shane Kelly has had a passion for horses since he was a child and now works at the Fettercairn Youth Horse Project
“Did you ever see the film Zorro?” he asks. “He’d whistle and this big black horse comes running towards him, that’s the same as this horse.”
“You might know them from Black Beauty even. They’re a jet-black horse, all their hair is black and there’s not a single white hair on them.
“Not many people would have them.”
Holly is of the Friesian breed of horse and she is around eight-years-old.
After seeing the breed of horse with its jet-black coat and sheen in films, brothers Daniel and Shane were determined to own one.
“My brother has been into them since he was a kid, my passion for horses would have come from him,” Shane tells The Echo.
Shane Kelly
“We eventually got our hands on one [a Friesian] and we started breeding them.
“We’ve three at the minute, two of them are only foals though.”
He adds, when recalling the pregnancy process for a mare, which can take up to 11 months: “She’d be out on grass most of the time, you’d be checking her and bringing her some hard food.
“The grass is the best nourishment for the foal.”
Shane Kelly
Holly can be spotted trotting around the arena at the stables in Fettercairn, aiding children having their horse-riding lessons on any given day.
As well as teaching young people horse-riding skills and animal welfare, The Fettercairn Youth Horse Project provides an outlet for disadvantaged young people by providing recreational, educational and employment opportunities.
Shane used the equine facility as a child during his time with Foróige in the Fettercairn Community Centre, and has really taken to it over the last couple years.
He works there, aiding in the running of the facilities in “mucking” the stables, keeping water and feed topped up, cleaning around the yard and is in the process of preparing to sit his BHSAI exams.
Shane Kelly is preparing to sit his BHSAI exams which will see him qualified to teach riders dressage and is particularly focused around animal welfare
Holders of the BHSAI are qualified to teach riders dressage and is particularly focused around animal welfare.
A past pupil of St Anne’s Primary School, Shane opted to focus his efforts more on practical training throughout his teenage years and all throughout that time, he found solace with horses.
“Horses, for a lot of people, bring them calmness,” the Fettercairn native says.
“You could be having a bad day, come into the stables and they make it better.
Shane Kelly
“It’s their temperament.
“It’s great to help out in the horse project, they do a lot of work for people with disabilities.
“It’s a good thing for the community and it has a great purpose – like it gives kids something to do, somewhere to go.”
Since 2015, the horse project has been on the path to raise funds and implement an integrated, educational and therapeutic sensory trail within the grounds of the community facility.
Local parents Amanda Fox and Grain Coyle, who have children on the autism spectrum, were instrumental in the fundraising efforts for the new sensory trail that is now all but ready to go.
Shane and his brother Daniel, through their family business DKS Property Maintenance, got to work late last year in constructing the new trail and they are just putting the final touches in place before launching it publicly.
